And john m



W. 8: J. M. BURKART.

Leaf-Turner.

N 228,600. Patented June 8,1880.

- WITNESSES I... II!" VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII/ qTTORNEYS.

N. PETERS, PHOTOlITHDGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. DV 0.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM BURKART, OF SMITHVILLE, INDIANA, AND JOHN M. BURKART, OF CANTON,KANSAS.

LEAF-TU RN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 228,600, dated June 8,1880.

Application filed January 6, 1.880.

.To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM BURKART, of Smithville, in the county ofMonroe and State of Indiana, ,and JOHN M. BURKART, of Canton, in thecounty of McPherson and State of Kansas, have invented a new andImproved Music-Leaf Turner, of which the following is a specification.

The object of our invention is to provide an attachment for organs,pianos, and other simi lar musical instruments, by which the leaves ofmusic can be turned without the necessity of removing the hands from thekey-board.

The invention. consists of a plate to be applied to the music-rest,fixed fingers to hold the covers, open movable fingers to grasp theleaves, levers for operating the movable fingers, cords running fromsaid levers to a kneelever under the keyboard, and tension devices forregulating the movement of the levers, all arranged so that by pressingagainst the knee-lever the leaves of music are successively turned.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of anorgan-case with our music-leaf turner applied to it. Fig. 2 is a bottomview of the organ key-board, showing the kneelever and the cordsconnecting the knee-lever with the finger-levers. Fig. 3 is a sectionaldetail of the end of the finger-levers to which the cords are attached.Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the fingers and its lever; andFigs. 5 and 6 are views of a device used in connection with themusic-leaf turner when applied to a piano.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings, A is the organcase. B is the key-board, and Ois the musicrest. D is the plate of the music-leaf turner, which isintended to be attached to the musicrest 0. Said rest is provided with aledge, a, to support the music-book E, as shown.

Below ledge a, midway ot' the length of plate D, are two projections, b11, between which are pivoted grooved pulleys c c, and to these pulleysare attached the power ends of levers d (1, each of which, with itsgrooved pulley, is adapted to turn independently of the other. Throughpulleys c c are made segmental holes 6, for the passage of the cordswhich run to the knee-lever. On levers d d are slides f, from whichproject upward at right angles'double fingers By the slide attachment ofthe fingers g with levers d d the double fingers g, which are designedto clasp the leaves of the music, can be moved back and forth on saidlevers, so that they can be made to clasp the leaves at points wherethey will least obscure the notes, and said slides also permit thefingers to be adjusted in position to the width of the leaves of music.

To plate I), below the ledge a, and at each end of said ledge, isattached one end of the fingers 7b, the opposite ends whereof projectupward at right angles. Fingers h are fixed, and they are designed tohold the book-covers open, and also the first leaf of the music to beplayed.

Levers (l (1 and fingers g are adapted to turn freely on their fulcrumsin the grooved pulleys c c, from right to left and left to right, as maybe desired, and these movements are produced in the following way:

Through segmental hole a in pulley c is run a cord, '13, one 'end, j,whereof is run around said pulley, thence, parallel to the music-rest O,

to a pulley, 7., near the back edge of the end I of the case A. Aroundsaid pulley kit is carried to the front over another pulley, l; thenceit is carried down through a hole in the keyboard under cleat m, andfrom there it is carried under the key-board 13, and attached to anelastic cord, m, and elastic cord m is c011- nected by a cord, m with apin, a, inserted in the adjacent side of the knee-lever F, which isfiileruu ied under the key-board in position to be easily reached andoperated by theknee of the performer,in the same manner as the lever ofa knee-swell. The other end,j, of cord i is carried in the oppositedirection to end P of the organ-case, where it is run over pulleys Z 1thence down through the key-board un der a cleat, m and thence itiscarried and attached directly to a pin, a, inserted in the knee-lever Fon the side opposite pin n.

t is a second cord run through hole 0 of pulley 0. One end, 0, of saidcord is run to tached to a pin, q, inserted in the adjacent side of theknee-lever F. The other end, 0, of cord 43 is carried to the end Z ofthe organcase, around pulleys 12 19 down through the key-board undercleat m", and it is then connected to one end of an elastic cord, m,which in turn is connected by a short cord, m with a pin, q, on the sideof knee-lever F opposite pin q.

Knee-lever F is connected with one end of a spiral spring, G, theopposite end whereof is attached to the under side of key-board B.

Spring G serves to draw the knee-lever back against the stop H in theposition it occupies in Fi s. 1 and 2, from whence it is moved to turnthe leaves.

The operation of the invention is as follows: The book E is placedagainst plate D, with its lower edge resting on ledge (t, and beingopened at the right place the fixed left-hand finger It is placed overthe leaves at the coinmencement of the piece, or, if opened at thebeginning, then over the cover, so as to hold the left sides of the bookdown, while the right-hand fixed linger h is placed over the right-handcover, or over the leaves of music that follow the piece to be played.The positions of the fixed fingers are shown in Fig. 1. The leaves ofthe music to be turned are then placed between the double fingers g inthe order that they are to be turned-that is to say, the first leaf tobe turned is placed between fingers g of lever d, and the next leaf isplaced between fingers of lever d. The cord t, connecting lever d withthe knee-lever F, is shorter than cord 1?, connecting lever d with saidlever. Now, when the first leaf is to be turned, the performer presseswith his knee against lever F, so as to throw it in the direction of thearrow. The lever F draws on the end j of cord i, and said cord, actingon pulley 0, turns said pulley, and with it lever (I, fingers g, and thefirst leaf over from right to left, and thereby exposes a new page ofthe music. When the next leaf is to be turned the lever F is pressedfarther in the direction of the arrow, the elastic cord m yields,allowing the lever to move, and the end 0 of cord 2" is drawn, therebyacting .on pulley c, lever d, fingers g, and the next leaf is turnedfrom right to left. l/Vhen the lever F is relieved of pressure spring Gdraws it back, and the end 0 of cord 2" is caused to turn pulley e andlever (1 back from left to right, throwing the last leaf turned backfirst. Then, through end j, cord i is caused to throw lever d, and withit the first leaf turned back, from left to right. The purpose of theelastic cord m, attached to the end j of cord 2', is to permit the leverF to move farther after turning overthe first leaf,

cord-t" has to have an elastic cord, at, coir nected with it, so that itcan yield and permit the lever F to move back snfliciently far to act onthe end j of cord 2'.

For every leaf to be turned a separate fin gerlever, grooved pulley, andcord is required, and there must be elastic pieces inserted in all thecords except the one which is intended to turn the last leaf.

By means of the pins a a q q the tension of the cords is regulated, sothat when the lever F is moved the cords are successively acted uponbythe lever in the order of their connection with the fin ger-levers. Thusthe first cord connected with the lever that turns the first leaf shouldbe drawn taut, so that the knee-lever F will act directly on the saidcord. The next cord should be slackened sufficiently to allow lever F tomox e far enough to turn the first leaf before acting on the sec ondcord, and so on, the several cords being slackened just enough to allowthe lever to complete the turning of one leaf before acting on the next.

The cords which turn the leaves back should be slackened in the reverseorder of those that turn the leaves forward.

lVhen the attachment is applied to a piano the cords are not run downthrough the keyboard, but a plate, H, is attached to the block at eachend of the key-board, and on this plate is held a slide, 1', providedwith a set-screw, s, for holding it in position.

011 the outer end of slide 1' are grooved pulleys. The cords are runfrom the pulleys to which the finger-levers are attached in bothdirections to the ends of thekey-board, thence down over the pulleys onplates 1' outside of the piano-case, and then down underneath the case,and thence their ends are carried to the knee-lever.

The slides r are thrown out sufficientl y far to allow the cords toclear the front of the case below the key-board.

When the piano is to be closed the cords are detached from theknee-lever and gathered up in the piano, and the slides 1' are pushed infar enough to allow the front of the case to go into its place.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent 1. The combination of the fingers g, levers dd, pulleys o c, cords t t", and elastic cords m m, with a knee-lever, F,constructed and operating substantially as described.

2. The pins n a q q, combined with the cords t i, for regulating thetension of said cords, as specified.

WILLIAM BURKART. JOHN M. BURKART.

itnesses to signature of William Burkart:

D. O. SUTPHIN, Z. T. PARSONS.

l/Vitnesses to signature of John M. Burkart:

D. (J. LUsE, DAVID BITTER.

